Authorities practise ship seizures after Baltic Sea cable breaks

Finnish and international authorities practised taking control of a vessel in Helsinki waters on Thursday, as part of preparations for further damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, Yle reports.

Members of the Helsinki Police Department’s Karhu tactical unit rappelled from a helicopter onto the deck of the Polaris icebreaker, moved to the bridge and detained people during the exercise. Armed special forces also searched the vessel, while other teams practised evacuating an injured person.

The exercise was led by the Finnish Border Guard and involved Finnish authorities, Poland’s border guard service and the French navy, which participated with its own vessel. Finnish participants included the Helsinki Police Department, Southern Finland’s tactical emergency medical service, the Helsinki Rescue Department’s MIRG group, the Utti Jaeger Regiment and Border Guard units operating in the Gulf of Finland, western Finland and aviation.

The exercise was considered necessary because damage to cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea has become a “new normal” in recent years, said Ilja Iljin, commander of the Border Guard headquarters.

Authorities have already improved their response after several suspected cable breaks. In the latest case, involving the Fitburg vessel, it took around four to five hours from detection to taking control of the ship, Iljin said.

The Karhu unit had already faced a real incident before the exercise. The Eagle S was taken over following a cable break on Christmas Day in 2024.

Juha Hietala, the senior superintendent who leads the Karhu unit, said the incident was exceptional because it was the first actual seizure of a vessel in the unit’s history. It also confirmed that the police tactical unit had suitable methods and equipment for taking control of ships, he said.

The Marsec EU26 exercise series aims to improve readiness to protect critical maritime infrastructure. Exercises have taken place both at sea and on land this year. A map-based exercise held last spring examined possible international scenarios involving damage to critical maritime infrastructure, with participation from maritime law experts, coast guards from several countries, EU maritime agencies and NATO maritime command representatives.

Finland’s Border Guard leads the Integrated Surveillance Mechanism, or ISM, in the Baltic Sea region. The initiative is based on the European Union’s action plan for cable security and is intended to ensure that countries share a common situational picture and that information flows between them.